The battle for the leadership of the People’s National Movement (PNM) ends today. By the close of polls this evening, the membership of the People’s National Movement (PNM) would have either retained its current leader Dr Keith Rowley or created history by electing its first female leader, Penelope Beckles-Robinson. There are 81,500 people on the voters’ list and a further 500 on a supplemental voting list.
Today’s vote marks the end of weeks of campaigning, constituency meetings, and walkabouts by both groups. The membership will vote, for the first time, in the new one-man one-vote system which replaced the original delegate system. Voters will be able to cast their votes at 41 stations throughout T&T. Polls open at 8 am and close at 6 pm. The vote comes amid several divisive arguments between the two groups within the party.
One bone of contention between the two sects was the existing voter list, which one member of Beckles-Robinson’s team, Ronald Boynes, who is contesting the post of general secretary, described as “defective.” At least 7,000 members were rejected from the preliminary listing and was the cause of much heated cross talk between the two groups. Beckles-Robinson team stated publicly at a media conference earlier in the week, that they were seeking legal advice on whether the existing issues were enough to suspend today’s election.
Rowley’s team held a rally to close their election bid last week Saturday, while Beckles-Robinson’s team closed off its bid on Friday night. See Page A6